Hello,
Thank you for contacting Mayor Ted Wheeler's office - we appreciate you taking the time to write. The Mayor's office is receiving thousands of emails from the community every day. In order to provide you with information as quickly as possible, our team has tried to make a complete response to the questions and concerns most often brought to our attention. Of course, once we get to your email, we will try our best to respond personally.
Please look below for information and resources that are in response to the most common questions and comments we are receiving. We appreciate your patience and understanding.
Call to Action
Last month, Mayor Ted Wheeler announced he is committing $12 million to Black and Brown communities, and shared a list of significant reforms to local policing he will be implementing. Because systemic racism extends beyond police agencies, Mayor Wheeler is also directing all City bureaus in his portfolio to develop strategies to better serve Black communities.
"The public has given us this historic opportunity to re-imagine what policing and public safety looks like in Portland and all across America," Mayor Wheeler said. "Too often, the very institutions that are supposed to protect and serve our community have instead failed people of color, specifically our Black community."
The list of reform action items includes financial, policy and legislative items that Mayor Wheeler will take in partnership with other elected leaders. Among the 19 items on Mayor Wheeler's action list are:
- Redirect over $7 million from Police Bureau and $5 million from other City funds to communities of color (Update: In May 2020, we (City Council) voted to divest nearly $15 million from the Police Bureau. Much of it was reinvested in programs supporting Black youth leadership development, unarmed first responders to move away from police-based solutions for people experiencing homelessness, our Office of Equity and Human Rights, and tribal relations.)
- Call on criminal justice system partners to match the City's commitment and reinvest in communities of color
- Call for a community-led review and re-envisioning of core patrol services, convened by the Portland Committee on Community-Engaged Policing
- Hire a third party to review recruitment and retention strategies to ensure that the City's workforce reflects the communities it serves
- Support outreach and non-law enforcement responses like the Portland Street Response pilot and the Navigation Team
- Advocate for greater access to community-based behavioral health and harm-reduction services located in communities of color
- Decline the renewal of the Intergovernmental Agreement with TriMet, dissolving the PPB Transit Division and putting transit officers back on patrol
- Dissolve the Gun Violence Reduction Team and fundamentally re-shape our approach to reduce gun violence in collaboration with the Office of Violence Prevention, the District Attorney-elect, and other partners
- Remove police officers from schools, dissolving the Youth Services Division and School Resource Officer program
- Immediately return the Equity & Inclusion office to the Chief's Office, with a direct report to the Chief of Police, and position that work alongside the Community Services Division
- Require explicit Council authorization for acquisition of military equipment, consistent with Executive Order 13688 issued by President Barack Obama in May 2015
- Create local legislation enshrining the Portland Committee on Community-Engaged Policing in Portland City Code, making it a permanent community oversight body
- Create local legislation for reforms to the use of consent searches in traffic stops
- Ban carotid constraints, including chokeholds, as methods of control, and direct Chief of Police to revise the use of force policy to reflect this change
- Create a local racial profiling ban with private right of action for intentional discrimination by law enforcement
- Support the Oregon Legislative People of Color Caucus's call for a special session to take up urgently needed reform legislation
- Support the Oregon Legislative People of Color Caucus in pursuit of legislation requiring the Oregon Attorney General to investigate officer-involved deaths or serious injuries of civilians
- Support the Oregon Legislative People of Color Caucus in pursuit of legislation ensuring integrity of local discipline actions by prohibiting arbitrators from overturning disciplinary decisions against officers if the law enforcement agency and arbitrator both agree that misconduct occurred
-Support reform of the Federal qualified immunity doctrine
We know that there is still much work to be done. We are committed to this work and we will continue to answer Portlanders' calls to action.
Many thousands of Portlanders have rallied in our parks and public spaces since the murder of George Floyd, calling for change that is overdue. Their voices have been inspiring. And we have supported their activity. But we cannot, and will not, ever endorse violent criminal activity. That is the behavior Multnomah County Sheriff Mike Reese and Police Chief Chuck Lovell have worked to prevent, and stop, each night. They will continue to do so.
Transformation has begun, but violence is not encouraging or hastening this change, and violent criminals do not speak for this movement. The Mayor is calling on our city, county and federal partners, as well as our entire community, to join him in our call to move our city forward in peace so that we can begin the necessary work of rebuilding, reforming, protecting our community from a global pandemic, and dismantling systemic racism.
We respect and support peaceful demonstrations, but nightly violence in Portland must end; lives are at stake.
Federal Officers
The Mayor does not support the federal police presence in Portland.
By deploying federal officers in our city, Trump has used Portland as a staging ground to further his political agenda, igniting his base to cause further divisiveness, and in doing so, endangering the lives and safety of Portlanders. By deploying federal officers, the President has made our current situation much worse. His heavy-handed tactics led to a serious injury and enflamed an already tense situation.
The videos, the pictures, the experiences that we are all witnessing here in Portland should be shocking to all Americans. President Trump and the Department of Homeland Security's words and actions have shown that this is an attack on our democracy.
The Mayor stands with our senators, representatives, and state, county, and city leaders to denounce their presence.
This is not the America we want. This is not the Portland we want.
Portland Police Bureau officers, who are not the same as federal officers, operate under clear directives regarding use of force and always have orders to de-escalate first. We will be thoroughly investigating any perceived violations of Portland Police Bureau directives, and if officers are found to have violated them, they will be held accountable.
We need our federal government to be held accountable. We need our President to be held accountable.
The Mayor has been a vocal critic of the heavy-handed tactics federal officers are using. He has also asked the federal police, on numerous occasions, to stay inside their buildings or leave Portland altogether.
The Mayor has restricted the Portland Police Bureau's usage of CS gas and has prohibited long range acoustic devices (LRAD). He has heard the community's asks, has implemented numerous historic reforms, and has reduced the police bureau's budget to address the historical injustices that have been a part of our city's government system.
Although the Mayor is responsible for the Portland Police Bureau, he has no jurisdiction over federal police. Our office encourages you to reach out to our congressional delegation to help stop their presence in Portland.
Parks
The City of Portland recognizes the importance of our Parks system, especially in difficult times. For this reason, Portland Parks & Recreation (PP&R) is committed to keeping parks open as much as possible.
Since early March, when Governor Brown issued the Stay Home Save Lives executive order to protect public health, many outdoor recreation activities have been prohibited. Although Multnomah County has entered Phase I of the Governor's reopening plan, there continues to be a prohibition on many forms of recreation, including contact sports. You can find the full text of this guidance here:
https://sharedsystems.dhsoha.s...s/Served/le2342E.pdf.
Beginning in March, PP&R posted signs in multiple languages that shared public health guidance and information about what park features were open or closed. PP&R also redeployed staff as Park Greeters to educate the public about what activities were allowed under the Governor's order, and to encourage physical distancing and the use of face coverings. Throughout this crisis, City parks in Portland have never been closed entirely.
At one point, PP&R installed physical barriers at certain park areas, but PP&R has since removed those barriers.
The City did temporarily close Chapman Square and Lownsdale Square to address health and safety issues and to conduct urgent repairs and maintenance. There was extensive vandalism and biohazards in public restrooms, benches and other public property that needed to be removed, and large campfires that threatened to damage trees, public art, and other park amenities.
Parks are community spaces that belong to everyone. We do not condone or tolerate destructive behavior, including damage to public infrastructure, art, and park assets. The City has a responsibility to ensure parks are healthy, open and accessible to the community, and safe.
Role as Police Commissioner
Mayor Ted Wheeler has served as police commissioner since he took office in 2017, and he will continue to serve as police commissioner while he is in office.
"I will continue to serve as police commissioner through this time of transformation," the Mayor has said. "And I will continue to work with elected leaders from the county and the state to ensure that we are examining the criminal justice system as a whole."
In this historic moment, the Mayor believes it is important to make impactful but sustainable reforms. In response to community demand, the Mayor released his 19-point plan for reform on June 9, which included redirecting $7 million from Police Bureau and $5 million from other City funds to communities of color, removing School Resource Officers from schools and dissolving the Gun Violence Reduction Team, and enshrining the Portland Committee on Community-Engaged Policing in city code.
The Mayor recognizes that there is more work to do, and he is committed to doing that work. He refuses to give into political grandstanding, which serves only to distract from this work.
COVID-19
Oregon is reopening on a county-by-county basis. On June 5, Multnomah County applied to begin reopening. Governor Brown allowed Multnomah County to enter Phase 1 of reopening on June 19. That means in Multnomah County, the Governor has allowed limited reopening of personal services like salons and barbers, gyms, and malls, and restaurants and bars open for in-person service until 10 p.m. Indoor social get-togethers are capped at 10 people with physical distancing. Cultural, civic, and faith gatherings are capped at 25 people with physical distancing for indoors or outdoors.
Due to the current increase in cases, Multnomah County announced on July 7 that it is continuing in Phase 1 indefinitely to protect public health.
To find more information on Multnomah County's reopening status, please visit the following webpage:
https://multco.us/novel-corona...county-amid-covid-19.
In addition, a statewide mask requirement went into effect on July 1 and has become more stringent since then. People in Oregon are required to wear masks in indoor places open to the public and in outdoor spaces when 6 feet of distance can't be maintained. For details, please visit this Oregon Health Authority information page:
https://sharedsystems.dhsoha.s...s/Served/le2288k.pdf.
In addition, as of July 24, children ages 5 and older will be required to wear masks in public indoor spaces and outdoors when 6 feet of distance can't be maintained.
For more information about the full reopening plan outlined by Governor Kate Brown, along with detailed reopening guidelines, please visit this website:
https://govstatus.egov.com/reopening-oregon.
For health information, please visit the Oregon Health Authority's COVID-19 page here:
https://govstatus.egov.com/OR-OHA-COVID-19, or contact the Oregon Health Authority or your county's health department.
Thank you again for your message and your understanding. We hope you are safe and healthy.
Constituent Services Team
The Office of Mayor Ted Wheeler
1221 SW Fourth Avenue, Suite 340
Portland, OR 97204
MayorWheeler@portlandoregon.gov
https://beta.portland.gov/wheelerThe City of Portland is committed to providing meaningful access. To request translation, interpretation, modifications, accommodations, or other auxiliary aids or services, contact 503-823-1125, Relay: 711.
